fact checking the propaganda. her name is

[mopinko]

shona holmes. she is the star of an ad now playing on cable teevee, sponsored by some front group called patients for...... i forget, but it was absurd. she is also featured on the cnn website along with a huge dump of propaganda about the evils of the canadian healthcare system.

perhaps the du brain trust can ferret out the players behind this crap and let them be known. no doubt patients for whatever it is they want is really insurance companies. and i wonder if she is even for real.

cnn story here
>>>>>>>

For Shona Holmes, simple pleasures such as playing with her dog or walking in her plush garden are a gift.
Canadian Shona Holmes, who had a brain tumor, sought medical care in the United States.
1 of 3
After suffering from crushing headaches and vision problems, she was diagnosed with a brain tumor four years ago. She was told if it wasn't removed, she could go blind or even die.
"They said to me that you had a brain tumor and it was pressing on your optic chasm and that it needed to come out immediately," Holmes said.
Holmes is Canadian, but the "they" she refers to are doctors at the Mayo Clinic in the United States, where she turned after specialists in her own government-run health care system would not see her fast enough.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/07/06/canadian.health.care.system/index.html

>>>>>>>>>>>>>

hahahahaha already a du thread about her
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5906802

anyway, lets kick this, please, as this ad buy seems big.

[Warpy]

1. It's nice she was filthy rich enough to walk into the Mayo Clinic

and shove ahead of everybody else.

However, for every minor delay Canadians face, we can point to a thousand cases of delay turned fatal, denial, recission of the policy on a technicality, and stonewalling--and most of us can point to such abuse happening to a family member. I know I can.

I honestly don't think this ultra expensive ad campaign is going to work on most Americans who have seen first and second hand how utterly evil the for profit insurance industry is in this country.

If insurance companies hadn't turned to greed and failed us so miserably, there would be no push for single payer.

[dalaigh lllama]

19. You don't have to be filthy rich to go to Mayo Clinic

You just need decent insurance -- a rare commodity these days and one we no longer have. My husband went there after f-ing around with doctors in Missouri for over a year to no avail. We made the appointment in the spring and got in to see the Mayo doctors in July. He then had surgery in September. His health problem wasn't life threatening, but it was definitely quality-of-life threatening and he was in agony for over a year. Our home town doctor had done an internship at Mayo, and he said no matter who you were you had to make an appointment well ahead of time or they wouldn't see you. He had stories about bigwigs who would just show up expecting red carpet treatment and the folks there would tell them they had to get in line like everyone else and make an appointment. So I'm not sure I'd buy her instant access to Mayo story.

OTOH, that place should be the model for every other clinic in the country. I've never seen a better run place. We had appointments with three specialists the first day we went there, all on time. Then they all consulted with each other and then us. Truly amazing place.

[SoCalDem]

27. In 1973, when our son was born, we had an appointment at Mayo in 18days

and surgery 2 days later. It was that way for 8 long years until we moved too far away to "commute" there several times a year.

All it took was a phone call to our family doctor from our home state. he made a few cals for us, and Mayo Clinic called US to inform us of our appointment, as soon as our son was released from the local hospital..

We had to sign only ONE piece of paper prior to his admission. We had good insurance back then

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

2. Posts 7 and 9 are the most interesting responses in the thread you linked to

this is a link from response 9
http://www.mayoclinic.org/patientstories/story-339.html

response 7 seemed to think that Canadian healthcare probably still paid for the operation. That would be the MOST salient point, I would think. I would love to know if that is true or not.

I did read somewhere previously someone debunking her story. Sean Hannity is always claiming that many Canadians cross the border to the US to get healthcare due to delays in Canada, which from the response from Canadians in general on health threads seems to be a canard. Anyway, in the debunking story I read (will try to find it) the person doing the investigating found a total of 7 Canadians who had crossed for urgent care - certainly not anywhere near what Hannity would have you believe or what this ad implies.

[Mojorabbit]

38. She says in the cnn article

she mortgaged her house and got loans from friends to pay for it and still owes money?

[stuball111]

48. Here... it's paid for by the Canadian system

IF it was life threatening, which it seems it wasn't

Myth: Canadians are paying out of pocket to come to the U.S. for medical care.

Most patients who come from Canada to the U.S. for health care are those whose costs are covered by the Canadian governments. If a Canadian goes outside of the country to get services that are deemed medically necessary, not experimental, and are not available at home for whatever reason (e.g., shortage or absence of high tech medical equipment; a longer wait for service than is medically prudent; or lack of physician expertise), the provincial government where you live fully funds your care. Those patients who do come to the U.S. for care and pay out of pocket are those who perceive their care to be more urgent than it likely is.

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/06/07-0

[Spazito]

3. Here's what I find interesting, to say the least, with her 'story'...

First, we only have her word that what happened wrt her doctor and, seeing as we already know it was a benign cyst and NOT a tumor, we already know she is a liar.

Second, why did she have, in essence, the Mayo Clinic on 'speed-dial' whereby she immediately called them the SAME day she saw her family physician and got an appointment there the VERY NEXT DAY?

From what I have been able to research, the Ontario government did NOT pay her bill because the treatment WAS available in Canada and she CHOSE to go to the Mayo Clinic instead.

This was a deliberate set-up, imo, with this woman and the Mayo Clinic as a willing participants, by those in the US who are determined to continue to gouge the public in order to make obscene profits. Those same scumbag corporations want very badly to destroy universal healthcare in Canada so they can set up shop here as well.

[blogslut]

4. Happy to oblige

The site is owned by Americans for Prosperity

http://www.dnsstuff.com/tools/whois/?tool_id=66&token=&toolhandler_redirect=0&ip=PatientsUnitedNow.com

Domain name: patientsunitednow.com

Registrant Contact:
Americans for Prosperity
Richard Myslinski ()

Fax:
1726 M Street NW
10th Floor
Washington, DC 20036
US

Administrative Contact:
Americans for Prosperity
Richard Myslinski ***********@afphq.org)
+1.2023495880
Fax: [phone]
1726 M Street NW
10th Floor
Washington, DC 20036
US

Technical Contact:
Americans for Prosperity
Richard Myslinski ***********@afphq.org)
+1.2023495880
Fax: [phone]
1726 M Street NW
10th Floor
Washington, DC 20036
US

Status: Locked

Name Servers:
dns1.registrar-servers.com
dns2.registrar-servers.com
dns3.registrar-servers.com

Creation date: 03 May 2009 06:40:15
Expiration date: 03 May 2010 06:40:15

Americans for Prosperity is hosted on the SMARTECH server:

http://whois.domaintools.com/americansforprosperity.org

Whois Record

Domain ID :D101890689-LROR
Domain Name:AMERICANSFORPROSPERITY.ORG
Created On:24-Oct-2003 22:10:12 UTC
Last Updated On:25-Sep-2008 11:09:16 UTC
Expiration Date:24-Oct-2009 22:10:12 UTC
Sponsoring Registrar:eNom, Inc. (R39-LROR)
Status:CLIENT TRANSFER PROHIBITED
Registrant ID :DA13682-BR
Registrant Name :DNS Administrator
Registrant Organization:Americans for Prosperity
Registrant Street1:1726 M Street, NW
Registrant Street2:
Registrant Street3:
Registrant City:Washington
Registrant State/Province :DC
Registrant Postal Code:20036
Registrant Country:US
Registrant Phone :[phone]
Registrant Phone Ext.:
Registrant FAX:
Registrant FAX Ext.:
Registrant Email:
Admin ID :DA13682-BR
Admin Name :DNS Administrator
Admin Organization:Americans for Prosperity
Admin Street1:1726 M Street, NW
Admin Street2:
Admin Street3:
Admin City:Washington
Admin State/Province :DC
Admin Postal Code:20036
Admin Country:US
Admin Phone :[phone]
Admin Phone Ext.:
Admin FAX:
Admin FAX Ext.:
Admin Email:
Tech ID:JA3218-BR
Tech Name :DNS Administrator
Tech Organization:SMARTech Corp
Tech Street1 :PO Box 11181
Tech Street2:
Tech Street3:
Tech City:Chattanooga
Tech State/Province:TN
Tech Postal Code:37401
Tech Country:US
Tech Phone :[phone]
Tech Phone Ext.:
Tech FAX :[phone]
Tech FAX Ext.:
Tech Email:
Name Server:NS1.CHA.SMARTECHCORP.NET
Name Server:NS2.CHA.SMARTECHCORP.NET

SMARTECH is the official host for the RNC/GOP:

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=SMARTech_Corporation

Republican Party

Web hosting

In March 2004, SMARTech CEO Jeff Averbeck told Dave Flessner of the Chattanooga Times Free Press that the company had "dedicated six Web servers to handle the business" and he was already "negotiating for more broadband capacity to handle the growing demand for electronic political information." <2>

In August 2004, SMARTech hosted the Republican National Convention in New York City. <3>

The company also hosts the Bush-Cheney '04 Inc. campaign web site www.georgewbush.com, which now redirects to the Republican National Committee's website www.GOP.com . <4> Another web site that redirects to the RNC is GOPteamleader.com...

You might also remember SMARTECH's involvement in the scandal concerning White House staff sending/receiving emails via the @gwb43.com account:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwb43.com

The administration officials have been using a private Internet domain, called gwb43.com, owned by and hosted on an e-mail server run by the Republican National Committee,<5> for various communications of unknown content or purpose. The domain name is an acronym standing for "George W. Bush, 43rd" President of the United States. The server came public when it was discovered that J. Scott Jennings, the White House's deputy director of political affairs, was using a gwb43.com e-mail address to discuss the firing of the U.S. attorney for Arkansas.<6> Communications by federal employees were also found on georgewbush.com and rnchq.org, but unlike these two servers, gwb43.com has no Web server connected to it — it is used only for e-mail.<7>

The "gwb43.com" domain name was publicized by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), who sent a letter to Oversight and Government Reform Committee committee chairman Henry A. Waxman requesting an investigation.<8> Waxman sent a formal warning to the RNC, advising them to retain copies of all e-mails sent by White House employees. According to Waxman, "in some instances, White House officials were using nongovernmental accounts specifically to avoid creating a record of the communications."<9> The Republican National Committee claims to have erased the emails, supposedly making them unavailable for Congressional investigators.<10>

On April 12, 2007, White House spokesman Scott Stanzel stated that White House staffers were told to use RNC accounts to "err on the side of avoiding violations of the Hatch Act, but they should also retain that information so it can be reviewed for the Presidential Records Act," and that "some employees ... have communicated about official business on those political email accounts."<11> Stanzel also said that even though RNC policy since 2004 has been to retain all emails of White House staff with RNC accounts, the staffers had the ability to delete the email themselves...

[Forkboy]

6. Nice digging.

:)

[blogslut]

7. Thanks

It's rather stunning how many of these astroturf groups are hosted @ SMARTECH. And I'm sure it's just a coincidence (sarcasm) that the GOP uses the same hosting company.

[mopinko]

9. +1 for the "great digging"

now, how do we get this out there?

[jwirr]

17. Thank you for the old DU back. This is what we have been good at. nt

[johnaries]

26. Check out their connections and funding in SourceWatch.

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Americans_For_Prosperity

[depakid]

29. What was it Obama said that he would do when front groups started airing ads like this?

About time to get started....

[Jackpine Radical]

5. Was it this bunch--Patients First?

It's a astroturf right-wing "non-profit"

http://joinpatientsfirst.com/facts

Here's an example of their propaganda:

'Public Option' Is a Back Door to a Total Washington Takeover
Instead of putting everyone outright into a Washington-run plan like the Canadian or British governments have, most advocates of government-run health care claim to favor the creation of a so-called “public option,” a government health insurance plan. Click here to see one Congresswoman explain that a total government system is the goal.

The “public option” would underpay doctors and hospitals like it already does with Medicare and Medicaid. We will have to pay to keep doctors in business if the government's not paying the real cost of care.

Because of the artificially low price, many employers would put their employees on the public plan – eventually making that “option” our only “option” for health care. But while it would appear cheap up front, the real cost of government care would hit taxpayers squarely in their wallets.

Under the system the Left envisions, the young and healthy pay the same as older and sicker Americans. Under a one-size-fits-all plan, it would not matter what you can afford or what your individual health needs are.

[mopinko]

8. looks like them. i honestly don't remember exactly, but

it was something like that. i will try to keep an eye out for it to get the details.

great digging.

[Jackpine Radical]

10. Blogslut & I came up with the same bunch.

Americans for Republican Prosperity or somesuch.

[mopinko]

11. americans for i got mine and

fuck you.

[Lagomorph]

12. uhhhhh....

"Under the system the Left envisions, the young and healthy pay the same as older and sicker Americans. Under a one-size-fits-all plan, it would not matter what you can afford or what your individual health needs are."

That is one of the better selling points, actually.

[mopinko]

13. i know.

amazing, init?

[elehhhhna]

22. young people never break bones or get catastrophic diseases?!!!

who knew?!1!

[mopinko]

24. they do. just not many of them.

howard dean says that 20-30 year olds should be included in any plan for free. they do not use many resources, and when they get ready to age out, they wont want to give it up. not entirely true in my family, but mostly true.

[Jackpine Radical]

41. Bullshit.

If your insurance rates are tied to your individual health status and you need $200,000 worth of health care, then your rate should be $260,000 (allowing them a modest 30% profit). Jeez, that sure sounds like the plan for me!

[Gwendolyn]

43. I think the poster was agreeing with what you just said, weren't they?

They said it was a good thing everyone contributes fairly across the board.

[Jackpine Radical]

44. Thanks. On rereading it, I think you're right.

Somehow I thought he was calling the Patients First nonsense a good selling point. Duh.

[mopinko]

14. this unrec thing gets curioser and curioser.

3 people unrec'd this thread?

[stuball111]

49. Excuse my ignorance,

But what does "unrec" mean? ( I'm new and I seriously don't know)

[NMMNG]

15. And if she were a US resident

And not fortunate enough to have employer provided insurance or enough $$$ to pay for her own health care she would have been pretty much screwed. Just ask any of the people who've tried to get health insurance and been told to eff off because they have "pre-existing conditions" or are "poor risks". Just having migraine disorder can get you blacklisted from insurance providers lists. If you aren't as healthy as a horse (IOW, if you aren't likely to only pay in premiums but never use the actual "services") you're likely to be denied coverage. Even if she'd had coverage she would have been lucky to get her needs taken care of. The typical insurer denies claims, particularly large claims like hers, to the fullest of its ability so the CEOs can maintain their multi-million dollar annual salaries.

I'm sick to death of BS propaganda like that ad.

[slipslidingaway]

16. knr #7 n/t

[starroute]

18. The Pacific Research Institute is behind it

According to ThinkProgress, "The Center for Medicine in the Public Interest is a project of the conservative think tank, the Pacific Research Institute." (http://thinkprogress.org/2009/07/17/health-care-bruno)

That must be who you're thinking of, because they're the ones who've been pushing Shana Holmes' story since last year.

PRI is one of the major free enterprise think-tanks. I'll go dig out my notes on them and report back.


On edit: According to my notes, PRI has ties to the Heritage Foundation, Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform, and ALEC and has been funded by the Koch family and the other usual right-wing foundations. They've been involved in pushing charter schools and trying to overturn affirmative action as applied to school assignments, also in challenging consumer protection and environmental regulations.

They basically represent the no-tax, no-regulation, privatize-everything wing of the right. They seem to have a lot of influence in California and bear a fair amount of the responsibility for what's going wrong there now. They even defended Enron back in its price-gouging period.


On second edit: Looking upthread, it seems like the current ad is not produced by the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest -- but they're definitely the ones who first dug Holmes out a year ago.

[johnaries]

25. It's by Patients United Now a subsidiary of Americans for Prosperity

Which was also behind the Tea Parties and is tied heavily to - you guessed it - the Koch family.

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Americans_For_Prosperity

[salvorhardin]

28. How apropos

Patients United Now = PUN; i.e., a bad joke.

[johnaries]

40. LOL! I hadn't thought of that!

Yes, very apropos.

[Klukie]

20. Some articles I found.....

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/health/reality+check+reality+check/1783177/story.html

And this one which mentions Americans for Prosperity.....

http://www.thespec.com/News/BreakingNews/article/601893

Another article that briefly mentions her.....

http://www.thewhig.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1641422

[Spazito]

21. Oh my, it seems Shona Holmes has been fighting for PRIVATIZATION of

healthcare in Canada with the backing of a conservative organization:

snip

With the support of the Canadian Constitution Foundation, Lindsay McCreith and Shona Holmes filed their statement of claim at the Ontario Superior Court on September 5, 2007. The Canadian Constitution Foundation is a conservative organization which funds litigation involving individual freedoms, economic liberty, and equality before the law. The Foundation also backed a challenge to Alberta's healthcare laws.

snip

They claim that prohibitions on direct billing, extra billing, private medical insurance and MRI facility fees...deprive Ontarians of the opportunity to secure timely access to essential services and thereby violate the right to life, liberty and the security of person guaranteed by Section 7 of the Charter. They argue that this is because healthcare legislation "has the effect of eliminating the supply of, and suppressing the demand of, essential health services outside the government monopoly healthcare system." Finally, they claim that it was the result of the government's monopoly over core healthcare services that they endured "significant financial, emotional and physical hardship to access such services in the United States."

http://www.thecourt.ca/2007/09/25/chaoulli-comes-to-ontario/

Info on the Canadian Constitution Foundation:

According to a press conference held this month, the Canadian Constitution Foundation (CCF) is funding a Charter challenge to single tier Public Medicare in Ontario. This group also launched a class action against single tier in Alberta last year. The goal appears to be to extend the Chaoulli decision outside of Quebec –to bring down the ban on two-tiering and to widen the opening for two-tier Medicare, extra-billing, user charges and out-of-pocket payment for medical care.

snip

The CCF has begun an extremely disingenuous streetcar advertising campaign in Toronto which blames a 'healthcare monopoly' – ie. the public health system -- for almost killing a patient, despite evidence that wait times, or rationing based on urgency and supply, are not just products of public systems – but occur in either public and private systems. Ignored by the pro-privatizers, is the fact that there is no measurement of waits when there is no health system – when health care is treated as a private market for those who can afford it. In the U.S. 45 million citizens are uninsured and unable to afford to even stand in the queue, and millions of others are trumped for a place in the queue by wealth.

snip

Who is Behind the Pro-Privatization Campaign?

The Calgary-based CCF is an extremely right-wing legal advocacy organization (and registered charity) that uses Charter challenges and public campaigns to promote its vision of "constitutional freedom"- specifically individual and economic "freedom", property rights and the restriction of government - and to defend the Constitution against "improper decisions or actions of governments, regulators, tribunals or special interest groups." The CCF is radically ideological and strongly linked with other right wing causes and organizations, most notably the Fraser Institute.

The CCF was founded in 2002 by lawyer John Weston of Vancouver to fund James Robinson's legal challenge to the Nisga'a Treaty (an aboriginal land claim in B.C.). Weston left the CCF and the Robinson case in 2005 in order to focus on his political ambitions as a federal Conservative candidate in West Vancouver (he was narrowly defeated in 2006 despite the support of Dr. Michael Walker, former Executive Director of the Fraser Institute). The CCF hired John Carpay, a former Reform candidate and the Alberta director of the Canadian Taxpayer Federation, to be the CCF's new Executive Director. The organization relocated to Calgary and re-launched itself in the summer of 2005.


http://www.web.net/~ohc/privatization/ccf_backgrounder.htm

[mopinko]

23. god damn it.

you people are the best.

[ColbertWatcher]

30. I have gathered all the links from this thread ...

... and the other one linked to in the OP and posted them on a special page just for Shona on the Truthiness Encyclopedia, here.

If you want to add info, remember two important things:

1. register a free account (it hides your IP address)
and 2. make it as satirical as you can.

Please help truthify it and help make it a top hit for all her misinformation.

Thank you.

[Joanie Baloney]

31. Good job, Mopinko!

I knew my gut feeling was right when I saw that P.O.S. commercial.

Jackholes.

-JB

[mopinko]

36. it was the outrageous name that set me off

patients united now. i guess this was the whole point of demolishing the american educational system. so you could sell something this dumb.
thanks.

[Spazito]

32. Something to point out about Shona Holmes' complaint...

She has said it cost her $95,000.00 to have her surgery at the Mayo Clinic and is upset the Ontario government would not reimburse her for that. Well, if we had private healthcare in Canada it would have cost her that here as well because it would be the SAME gougers providing the service and there would be NO government claim even to be made.

In a way, her complaint reinforces the truth that public healthcare means one doesn't have to go broke or bankrupt to access services.

[Wednesdays]

33. K&R

:kick:

[SidDithers]

34. Holmes didn't have a "brain tumour", she had a Rathke's Cleft Cyst

I made a post about it here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=6106810&mesg_id=6106810 and Spazito was kind enough to suggest I add the info to your post.

Kos diary here: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/7/19/755113/-Another-Healthcare-Lie,-and-the-Lying-Liar-Thats-Telling-It

Ottawa Citizen story here: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/health/reality+check+reality+check/1783177/story.html

including this:

Still, I found Holmes tale both compelling and troubling. So I decided to check a little further. On the Mayo Clinic's website, Shona Holmes is a success story. But it's somewhat different story than all the headlines might have implied. Holmes' "brain tumour" was actually a Rathke's Cleft Cyst on her pituitary gland. To quote an American source, the John Wayne Cancer Center, "Rathke's Cleft Cysts are not true tumors or neoplasms; instead they are benign cysts."

As I said in my other post. She's playing with the big boys now, and I have a feeling she's going to get destroyed.

Sid

[mopinko]

35. see the ad-

at www.patientsunitednow.com

the spot is called survivor. this links to the page with the video, as well as several other pieces of propaganda that i cannot watch on an empty stomach.

[mopinko]

37. and isn't the craziest part of this whole mess that conservatives in canada

are starting to sound like the republicans here. i would love to know how the funding of the healthcare system has been going in recent years. is the reich wing there trying to kill off healthcare?

[Jackpine Radical]

42. Yes, it is.

Every time the reactionaries get in power, they cut health care funding & the lines start getting longer for elective procedures.

[NashVegas]

39. More Info In This Thread

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6097949

[mopinko]

45. cut and pasting your op. but highly recommend folks also visit the thread.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6097949

Edited on Sat Jul-18-09 05:50 PM by NashVegas
On CNN.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWKqIxkup3U

FYI, Shona Holmes, the woman in the video is a famous case. She was treated at the Mayo clinic and they use her as a case study:

Shona Holmes was in trouble: The list of her symptoms included headaches, sleeplessness, dizziness, low libido and, worst of all, rapidly deteriorating vision. Her family doctor in Canada ordered an MRI, and a brain tumor was detected. But it would take months for her to get on the appointment calendar of a neurologist or endocrinologist in Canada.

"I knew in my gut that I had to see someone and could not wait five to six months," she says. So she called Mayo Clinic and got an appointment the same day.

...

Dr. Naresh Patel, neurosurgeon, diagnosed Holmes as having a Rathke's cleft cyst (RCC). The rare, fluid-filled sac grows near the pituitary gland at the base of the brain and eventually can cause hormone and vision problems. Dr. Patel joined forces with Drs. David W. Dodick, neurologist, and Michael D. Whitaker, endocrinologist, to work on Holmes' case.

Their further tests revealed an increase in the size of her cyst over a short period of time as well as progressively worsening vision. "I was concerned that the pressure on Shona's nerves were causing her to become blind," says Dr. Patel. "We needed to remove the cyst to save her vision."


Her TV commercial script SHOULD say: "I could have died if my tumor was malignent." But it wasn't. It wasn't even a tumor - it was a cyst.

PS - I wish we could find out if the Canadian government paid for the surgery, etc.



The organization behind it is being dug into by several others. Some findings:

From The Wonk Room on Think Progress: http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2009/05/27/pun /

Now, operating under the name Patients United Now, Americans for Prosperity — which is mostly funded by large multinational corporations — is masquerading as an organic grassroots movement outraged over the Presidents health care proposals:

After orchestrating and funding the so-called Tea Parties movement, Americans for Prosperity — a nationwide front group founded and funded by the right-wing polluter Koch Industries — is launching an ad campaign characterizing President Obama’s effort to reform the health care system as a government take-over that will ration care and care and deny treatments.

Americans for Prosperity is notorious for its fake grassroots efforts, funneling millions of dollars into conservative campaigns designed to undermine Democratic initiatives. As Lee Fang put it, “AFP is a professional AstroTurf machine”:

- Hosted ‘Drill Baby, Drill’ rallies around the country.

- Financed Joe the Plumber’s tour against the Employees’ Free Choice Act and other anti-EFCA rallies.

- Started NoStimulus.com, “a grassroots website that we hope will be a focal point for the widespread frustration ordinary Americans feel at the runaway government growth that we see during good economic times and bad.”

[mopinko]

46. my god these people are shameless.

from the folks who brought you joe the plumber? holy mackerel.

[stuball111]

47. Thanks for that info..

:beer:

[drm604]

50. Here's some info.

Shona Holmes
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=222x65344

Patients United Now, the astroturf group that created her video.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6080157

[Spazito]

51. I am glad to see Ms. Holmes isn't getting away with her bogus claim...

and the Canadian Media, at least, are investigating this shill's REAL reason for becoming the 'darling' of the rabid right wing both in Canada and the US.

Thanks for the links, much appreciated!

[Jane Austin]

52. Has the Mayo Clinic taken her story off their website?

I can't find it there.

Thanks.

[iverglas]

53. we need some confirmed facts here ;)

Shona Holmes is Canadian and does live in Ontario. There is no doubt about that.

The Ontario health insurance plan (familiarly known as OHIP) did not pay for her treatment at the Mayo Clinic, the stated reason being that it was not recommended by an Ontario physician before she went there. (I would assume that if an Ontario physician later agreed that her treatment there was necessary, they would have said so.)

The provincial health insurance plans pay for medically necessary treatment out of province (whether in another province, in the US or elsewhere) if it is not available locally. This would most often be the case because of the rarity and specialization of the treatment (e.g. late-term abortions in a western province; patients have been sent to Dr. Tiller's clinic at no cost to them). Canada is a relatively small country in terms of population, and shortages can occur, both because of high localized demand at a point in time and because certain expertise has not been developed. (On the other hand, Canada has numerous centres of very high expertise in many areas, and neurosurgery is one. My father was treated some years ago in Ontario by one of the world's leading neurosurgeons.)

Holmes and another person have sued the Ontario health plan to recover the cost of their treatment. This is the statement of claim:

http://www.law.utoronto.ca/healthlaw/docs/case_McCreith.pdf

It was filed in 2007 and as far as I know has not proceeded further.

The costs of that action are being borne by a right-wing Canadian non-profit:
http://www.canadianconstitutionfoundation.ca/

The details of her claim (following a lengthy exposition on the law they are citing and general facts alleged regarding the health care system) begin at the bottom of page 24.

Holmes has always known she did not have cancer, but has allowed herself to be referred to at every turn as a cancer survivor.

The claim is less than clear on several points, including what "difficulties" she was having in scheduling testing recommended by her neurosurgeon prior to the appointment with a neurologist recommended by the neurosurgeon. (I dunno; does this sound like bad health care to anyone??) She also refers repeatedly to vision tests and recommendations by an optometrist; an optometrist is not an MD and does not properly recommend surgery.

In the ad in which she appears, she plainly states that she would have died had she not been treated at the Mayo Clinic. This is obviously a lie of the most egregious sort.

There is also nothing whatsoever to support the statement in the ad that she was told (not by the "government health care system", but by anyone) that she had to wait six months. She went to Arizona to avoid a one-month wait to see a neurologist.

The vision problems she had experienced disappeared after the surgery. I do not know why there would be any reason to think they would not have disappeared if the surgery had taken place later. From what I have read, there actually is no reason to anticipate permanent vision loss over such a short period.


It isn't wise for allegations like "she's not a Canadian" and the like to circulate.

But the truth is that she did not have cancer, her life was not in danger, and there is no evidence at all that she did not receive appropriate treatment.


I have read that Holmes was scheduled to appear at a Congressional hearing yesterday, July 23. If this proceeded and any links can be provided to info, I would appreciate it.

I do hope that Democratic representatives were provided with facts prior to her appearance.